supermariolovesyou

Break out the heavy duty rice cooker. It's time to feast.

I'm a Singa-Pino or a Fili-Porean. Like it or not, it's what I am for being in Singapore since 1997.  The list from the shared link isn't 100% accurate but , in the name of fun and intercultural communication (sounds deep hor?) allow me to share a bit of my food culture. My faves are:

1)Yam ice cream (we call it Ube or Ubi)

2)Turon or sweetened lumpia (imagine sweet bananas drizzled in brown sugar and at times wrapped with some sweet jack fruit and then wrapped with popiah wrap and then deep fried to perfection, mmm, mmm!)

3) Kare-kare. Nah, we don't use peanut butter. We use all natural ingredients. I used to grind it the old fashion way, pound, grind, pound again. (til you get really sweaty:)

4) Kaldrereta. This can be compared to beef rendang in SG. Only it is more tomato paste/puree', sweet, sour, salty, it's an explosion of flavour. The beef must be really tender. My Aunts would pressure cook this stuff and it's YUMMY!

5) Lechon. Anthony Bourdain placed the Philippines as #1 on this! He was in Cebu when he picked this. There are different versions and marinade for this special piggy delight.  Crispy, tender, juicy, yummy!  (At least we don't cook it while it's alive and under the sun! Another culture does that:)

When you're in the Philippines, have some adventure. You'll be surprised what may tickle your tastebud.

This is awesome.

The lines above is an understatement.  This is more than (wait for it) awesome! I'm probably one of the first few folks in Singapore that has carried a monopad. Thanks to my tv writer/talent extra ordinaire - Tata Betita of Manila's GMA7. He gave one to me years ago and the rest is history. I don't use it as much now. But I better get back at taking more serious/fun photos soon!

The attack is one of China's deadliest in recent years. Warning: Graphic images.

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww via @ryanberg

How three words make a devastating impact in the lives of little boys.

Dad came home one day and found me dancing with a sort of Ninja styled costume on me. He was disappointed. I got punished for it. Mario Senior (Dad) thought I was probably - gay. I tried reasoning with him that I just like singing and dancing in front of our gigantic radio. I still got punished.

I don’t blame Dad. His generation and probably my generation as well have a different mindset when it comes to arts, colours, fashion, preferences, other kinds of choices.  Indifference and ignorance about a lot of things does make our communities and cultures more complicated.

Historians know that “pink” was actually the preference for “boys” particularly for toddlers or babies. “Blue” was actually chosen for girls.

This is just a slice of the full story here and why men have to always be masculine, macho, brave, or what they call “straight.”

Don’t take my word on this. Do your own research and discover more things and unlearn what you’ve learned from your parents and teachers.

I’ve got 3 daughters and a lovely wife. I enjoy being a man and all the responsibilities that my culture have placed on me. Some are just simply the norm, but a lot of it are just plain ridiculous. I’m not the master of my wife and neither should I control anyone around me who’s a female. I call it plain and simple “respect.” 

Read up more if you like.  Below are some references for you to invade your local library.

Refs:

Frassanito, Paolo, and Pettorini, Benedetta. “Pink and Blue: The Color of Gender,” Child’s Nervous System (2008) 24:881–882

Hurlbert, Anya C. and Ling, Yazhu. “Biological Components of Sex Differences in Color Preference.” Current Biology v. 17, no. 16, pp. 623-625

Koops, Willem, and Michael Zuckerman, Beyond the Century of the Child: Cultural History and Developmental Psychology (2003)

Paoletti, Jo B., “The Gendering of Infants’ and Toddlers’ Clothes in America,” The Material Culture of Gender – The Gender of Material Culture, Katharine Martinez and Kenneth L. Ames, eds. (1997)

TOUCHED & INSPIRED

December 23rd treat for the street kids in Binangonan, Rizal with the Reyes family and my family together with my old buddy - Jonaver. Feeding the kids, giving out toys and simply putting some positivity to them when life isn’t that easy for these children made our trip there really worth it.

In all honesty, we’ve learned more from these poor children. I’ve asked two kids here on one of the photos “is it delicious?” The two kids said “masarrrap po!” (Respectful response saying “yes, it’s delicious!”).

We’ve met two other kids that night selling disposable rugs and it was really painful to share their story. These girls sell rugs at night to make ends meet and to help their parents as well as in order for them to be able to go to school in the daytime. The elder sister is 15, while the other is 5. I was holding back my tears while looking at them and while trying to reach out to extend some help. They were very civilised and respectful kids, very different from the usual, abandoned street children. Jonaver ordered food for them, they shared one big plate of food with a couple of dishes. The girls were really looking after each other. I was still in emo state knowing that a 5-year old girl sells rugs to help out her family to simply pull through.

Today's pampered kids have a lot to learn from these under privileged children. The hard knocks of life is real, felt, and obviously seen from their daily life. Yet, they carry a sincere smile and humility that are hardly observed these days by many kids who are well provided for.

I promise myself to be back and see them again in the near future.

(TruthSeekerDaily) Like many of you, we are in love with tiny houses since they represent a movement to a simpler, more sustainable way of life. Here are our top 11 homes that we found at [tinyhouseswoon.com] What’s your favorite thing about tiny houses? #1.   #2.   #3.   #4.   #5.   #6.  &

There are indeed some cool ideas here.  Browse on and surf down, you'll see what I'm trying to share here.

We used to have a treehouse when I was really young. I've even raised pigeons and chickens during my elementary and high-school days. The pigeons do come home on their own and they know it is their home. Our house was good enough. We had a basement where we bring our friends to simply soundtrip (listen to music) while lying down. You can't stand from the basement or you'll hit your head 'cause it was meant for us to simply bend over and no standing allowed - seriously.

FIre broke out in my hood, our house was one of those that got hit and there wasn't much left after the fire. We've re-built since then, that was 1993.  So much has happened and I still can't believe how far we've all bounced back from our very humble beginnings until now. We've survived and fought the good fight of life. Mother is in heaven now (or probably just tossing the plates around, just that we don't see her). She was always the one that made us complete no matter what life brought to our family. She built a home where laughter, tears, joy, sadness, & a whole lot of cooking and love were all happening at the same time back then. We carry all the good stuff from the past and we are still trying to move on to simply live. We miss her. I miss her. 

When you really think about it, it's not how big your house is. It's about how wise you maximize and creatively use your space. Simple living is always the key to a much better, healthier, stress-free life. Simplicity and love - they go hand in hand. Let's not complicate them, let's blend them well.